The present disclosure relates to seats for use by juveniles in vehicles and, particularly, to seats having child-restraining harness belts and to seats configured to seat older children in a restrained fashion using adult vehicle lap and shoulder belts. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a child vehicle seat with a child-restraint harness adjustment mechanism and to a child vehicle seat with a headrest adjustment mechanism.
Many juvenile vehicle seats are formed to include several sets of shoulder belt-receiving apertures in a back wall of the juvenile vehicle seat so that the seat can be adapted by a user to restrain juveniles of different sized juveniles of different sizes. To accommodate an infant, the two shoulder belts are uncoupled from other portions of the car seat harness, passed through a lowest pair of shoulder belt-receiving apertures formed in the back wall of the car seat, and then recoupled to the car seat harness.
As the infant grows, the caregiver must repeat the belt installation procedure described above using other higher sets of belt-receiving apertures formed in a higher portion of the back wall of the car seat to enlarge the child car seat harness to accommodate the growing child. U.S. Pat. No. 6,030,047 to James M. Kain, which patent is hereby incorporated by reference herein, and U.S. application Ser. No. 09/628,459 to James M. Kain, which application is hereby incorporated by reference herein, each discloses a car seat that is adaptable to hold infants, toddlers, and juveniles and, in particular, is adaptable to adjust the size of the child-restraint harness quickly and easily to accommodate children of various sizes in the child car seat.
According to the present disclosure, a child-restraint seat is includes a seat shell, a child-restraint harness coupled to the seat shell, and a harness-control panel including a belt-receiving opening receiving a shoulder belt portion of the child-restraint harness. The harness-control panel is mounted on the seat shell for up and down movement relative to the scat shell to raise and lower the shoulder belt portion of the child-restraint harness with respect to a bottom seat portion of the seat shell. The child-restraint seat further includes a panel-height adjustment mechanism coupled to the harness-control panel. The adjustment mechanism is accessible to a user from both a front side and a rear side of the child-restraint seat. The adjustment mechanism is movable between a locked position to prevent the harness-control panel from moving up and down relative to the seat shell and an unlocked position to allow the harness-control panel to move up and down relative to the seat shell.
Illustratively, the harness-control panel includes a headrest positioned to lie adjacent to a front surface of a back support portion of the seat shell to cause a child seated in the seat shell to rest against the harness-control panel. The panel-height adjustment mechanism includes one or more of the following features: a locking member, an actuator, and a handle bar.
The locking member is coupled to the harness-control panel and is engaged with the seat shell when the adjustment mechanism is in the locked position and is disengaged from the seat shell when the adjustment mechanism is in the unlocked position. Illustratively, the locking member is a bar receivable within one or more panel-height locators or slots positioned at various heights along the back support portion of the seat shell. Further, the locking member illustratively supports the shoulder belt portion of the child-restraint harness for up and down movement with the harness-control panel relative to the seat shell.
The illustrative actuator is coupled to the harness-control panel for up and down movement therewith. The actuator is also movable relative to the harness-control panel to move the locking member from the engaged position to the disengaged position. The actuator is positioned adjacent a front surface of the back support portion of the seat shell and is accessible to a user from a front side of the child-restraint seat. The child-restraint seat may include one or more actuators.
The illustrative handle is coupled to the harness-control panel for up and down movement therewith. The locking member is received within a channel of the handle for back and forth sliding movement relative to the handle and relative to the harness-control panel. The locking member is spring-biased in a direction toward the back support portion of the seat shell for engagement with one of the panel-height locators of the seat shell.
Additional features of the disclosure will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description of preferred embodiments exemplifying the best mode of carrying out the disclosure as presently perceived.